Back at Prospera Place for the first time in three weeks, a little home cooking didn't help the 琉璃神社 Rockets as they fell 5-2 to the Kamloops Blazers on Friday night, March 14.
A back-and-forth first period didn't result in any goals until the 19:05 mark when defenceman Will Sharpe went coast-to-coast on the power play to open the scoring for the Rockets. Goaltender Rhett Stoesser collected an assist on the goal.
Five and a half minutes into the second period, Kamloops tied the game when Harrison Brunicke potted his fifth of the year.
At the 17:09 mark of the frame, the Blazers' Rhett Ravndahl gave them their first lead of the game, scoring shorthanded.
Onto the third period when 7:36 into the stanza, Emmitt Fennie scored his 36th goal of the campaign for Kamloops, which ended up being the eventual game-winning goal.
Exactly two and a half minutes later, Hiroki Gojsic added his 19th of the season for the Rockets to make it a one-goal game but that's as close as they got as Kamloops added two empty-net goals late to win 5-2. Kalder Varge and Rowan Guest assisted on Gojsic's goal.
Stoesser made 29 saves in the loss, which was the Rockets' 23rd loss in their last 24 games. They are now 17-41-4-2 on the season.
These two teams will suit back up on Saturday night, this time up in Kamloops at the Sandman Centre. Puck drop is at 6 p.m.